


we'll dance and sing till sunrise (and feast with abandon)

by HannahPelham



Series: girls in red [2]
Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: F/F, Lesbian, Super Soft, also shirley just vibin in the forest, feels very shirley, forestcore lesbians, joan thursday is a lesbian icon and i will not be taking further questions at this time, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham
Summary: Joan Thursday goes for a walk in the forest one day, and meets a pretty, and pretty mysterious, woman. Modern AU. Forestcore AU.title from Come Along by Cosmo Sheldrake
Relationships: Joan Thursday/Shirley Trewlove
Series: girls in red [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886545
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	we'll dance and sing till sunrise (and feast with abandon)

It was a sunny day when Joan Thursday decided to go for a walk in the forest. She’d lived near it for a long time, since she’d moved to the area years and years ago after a bad breakup, but she’d never properly explored it. 

Forests were not her natural habitat, Joan had to admit. She assumed she’d be much happier sat in front of her laptop working away in a coffee shop with a latte to hand. She had always been a townie, living in Oxford for most of her formative years whilst her father was in the Police force. She’d never really properly been out into a forest before, and certainly not on her own. She’d never really been out in nature before, despite living in a town in the middle of the Cotswolds. She had no idea what she’d find - a stream? Toadstools? Anything else stereotypical about forests that she could think of.

She set out early in the morning, her bright yellow rucksack making her easy to spot should anything happen to her. She had a compass, a gift from her father when she left home, so she knew vaguely what direction she was walking in, so she could work out how to get home again. She used the time to think about things, about her life. She’d recently come out as a lesbian to more than her close friends, posting a simple tweet on her account. She was an investigative journalist, with quite a large following, as she wrote for a couple of major UK newspapers. Her coming out as a gay was quite something as far as the investigative journalism world was concerned. She’d had backlash, of course, but on the whole she was pleased with the reaction to her news. Now, she realised, she just had to find herself a girlfriend. From her experience, that was harder than Joan thought it ought to be. 

She stepped over tree roots, twigs cracking beneath her feet as she ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. She was mainly sticking to paths she could see, including one very well trodden one. As she followed it through, over the stream Joan knew she’d find, she thought she could make out a building of some sort hidden between the trees. As she got closer, she realised it was a cottage, with smoke coming out of the chimney. Someone obviously lived there. 

She approached it, and saw a young blonde woman sitting on a seat outside the front door. She had a mug of tea at her side and she was whittling a piece of wood into something or other with a knife. She looked up as she heard Joan approach.

“Hello! Do you want some tea?” She said as Joan walked closer. Joan nodded, and soon there was a cup in her hands.

“Thank you very much…” Joan said, trailing off when she realised she didn’t know the woman’s name. 

“Shirley Trewlove” she replied, sticking her hand out to shake. Joan shook it and took a seat next to Shirley, looking out towards the forest. Joan finally took in the woman’s appearance - she was wearing an ancient oversized jumper with corduroy trousers, and boots that looked like they’d been at the Battle of the Somme. 

They sat and chatted about the forest over their tea, Joan explaining that it was her first time exploring it. Shirley explained that she’d lived in the cottage for a year or so, since her partner was killed.

Partner, Joan thought, sounded ambiguous. Not that she wanted to put too much thought into it, as they chatted away. 

“I was about to go out foraging for mushrooms as it happens - I can teach you which ones aren’t poisonous” Shirley said, standing up with gusto. Joan agreed, and soon she found herself walking through the forest with Shirley, a small wicker basket in her hand, listening to every word the other woman said. When Joan had set out into the forest for a day, she hadn’t expected to go out foraging for mushrooms, but here she was. She watched as Shirley carefully inspected every mushroom, checking what type it was. When she was certain it was ok, it went into the basket Joan was carrying. After a while, they had a decent amount, and headed back to the cottage. 

They got back, and Shirley expressed her intention to make soup with the mushrooms they’d collected, and invited Joan to stay and try it. As she walked into the cottage, Joan could see why Shirley liked it so much. It looked like something out of an illustration, plants everywhere, growing in every place that was possible. She walked through to the kitchen, and it was full of plants and flowers. There was moss in some places where the windows were a little bit derelict, but it all added to the charm of the place, and of Shirley. As she sat at the table, which was a bit lopsided, cutting up the mushrooms, she noticed the flowers in Shirley’s hair for the first time. She had a small and delicate crown or coronet of woodland flowers worked into the braids in her hair, making her look like a forest nymph or something. Joan could see that Shirley belonged in the forest, and that in a strange way, the forest belonged to her. 

Joan laughed as Shirley put all of the effort she could muster into winding up a gramophone. Crackly music played from the corner of the kitchen as the soup simmered. Shirley washed up a couple of bowls for them, and Joan realised that she could quite easily be happy here. A little cottage, in the middle of nowhere, living off what she could find, with Shirley. 

She had known Shirley less than a day but she’d made a huge impression on Joan, showing her how simple but fruitful life could be.   
They sat on the bench outside the cottage as the sun started to set, eating their soup with some of Shirley’s homemade crusty bread. Joan realised she hadn’t been this happy in a very long time. She felt content with and at peace with life. It was an unusual feeling, and she didn’t want it to end. 

Eventually, Joan realised she would have to go home, and Shirley led her to the edge of the forest, back towards the town. They hugged as they parted, and went their separate ways as the sun set. As Joan walked away, she wanted to turn around and run back to Shirley.

A few days later, Joan baked a lemon drizzle cake to take to Shirley’s cottage. Her excuse, that she thought she needed, was to say thank you for the soup they’d made. She retraced her steps, and soon found herself back at Shirley’s cottage. She knocked on the door nervously, but all her nerves were put to rest when she saw Shirley’s smile, upon realising the person on the other side of her door was Joan. Before she knew it, Joan was sitting on the bench outside Shirley’s cottage once again, a cup of tea in her hand. Shirley fetched a knife, and they tucked into the cake that Joan had made. 

They sat there quietly, taking in the stillness of the forest. At least, it was, until Shirley leant over and kissed Joan. Joan immediately kissed her back, in complete amazement that Shirley was actually interested in her. She smiled into the kiss, and knew instantly that what she had with Shirley was something special.

Reader, she married her.


End file.
